In the field of data recording, various recording devices are used which incorporate different technologies. In the audio recording field, digital audio tape (DAT) recording technology is widely used. When this technology is employed, generally four channels of information are simultaneously recorded on the tape medium.
While providing an improvement in recording quality over previous technology, DAT still suffers from some drawbacks. First, there is a slow access time in playing back recorded data. A second related drawback is the difficulty in skipping tracks for editing or playback. Moreover, the use of only four channels limits sound quality.
Outside the audio recording field, magneto optical (MO) disks have been developed for the storage and playback of digital data. Magneto optical disks provide at least two advantages over storage systems using a tape storage medium. First, the information stored on the MO disk may be accessed much more rapidly than can information stored on a tape recording medium. Secondly, the MO disk provides the capability of "slipping" tracks in time.
However, wider use of MO recording has heretofore been limited because of the relatively slow transfer rate of data from the MO disk controller to the MO disk itself, and the relatively fast rate of data acquisition from the source to be recorded. The discrepancy in speed of these two functions have made it difficult to apply this technology to other fields, such as audio recording.
Hence, there is a need to provide a recording device which provides the ease of use afforded by magneto optical disk-based recording systems. There is a further need to improve recording quality by simultaneously recording more than four tracks of data on a recording medium.